


Eyes Still Light

by squirenonny



Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: 31 Days of Sadfic, CFSWF, Gen, Gore, WoR spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 10:19:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4344728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirenonny/pseuds/squirenonny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was Rillir all over again, only this time Kaladin couldn't afford to fail.</p><p>Written for CFSWF 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes Still Light

“No.”

Kaladin’s hands shook. Shook with anger, with fatigue, with the sudden loss of Stormlight, which had sustained him through the battle. It was gone now. Every sphere Bridge Four had brought with them. Drained.

His hands shook with fear. This was too much blood.

The scalpel wavered, and Kaladin took a breath.

“Storm it, Teft, you’re not dying on me.”

The man let out a wet, wheezing laugh. “I’m sorry, Kal, I—”

“Don't say it _._ ” He turned his head a fraction, not taking his eyes off Teft’s wound. “Lopen. I need more water.”

“Right.” Lopen’s voice shook, but he ran in search of clean water, almost as scarce a commodity as Stormlight these days. Especially when they were up against a thunderclast. Kaladin had lost track of how many soldiers he’d already stitched up.

And all that time, Teft had been bleeding to death.

He’d grown complacent since the men of Bridge Four had gained the use of Stormlight. He’d assumed them all invulnerable, and that meant he no longer assumed the worst when he couldn’t find them immediately following a battle.

If only he hadn’t been so loose with his Stormlight…

“Knobweed?” Kaladin asked when Skar approached.

A minute shake of the head.

Kaladin swore. “And there’s no more Stormlight? You’re _sure_?”

“It’s all used up,” said Syl, twisting through the air, back from her survey of the battlefield. “I’m sorry, Kaladin.”

The words pounded through him like the fall of a shardhammer.

Teft’s fingers, cold skin slick with hot blood, closed around Kaladin’s wrist. “It’s okay, lad.”

“No, it’s not.” Kaladin’s eyes went to Teft’s wound, a gaping, ragged tear from rib to thigh. A fragment of the thunderclast’s claw had broken off in the wound. It slowed the bleeding, but not enough. Kaladin couldn’t repair the damage without removing it, but removing it now would kill him.

It was Rillir all over again, only this time Kaladin couldn’t afford to fail.

“The others, Kal.”

“They’ll be fine, Teft.” _Focus._ The claw had punctured Teft’s right lung; Kaladin could hear it in each gurgling breath. Kaladin had to fix that, or Teft might drown before blood loss caught up with him.

Teft gave him a reproachful look, stinging even through the pain.

“They’ll be _fine_ ,” Kaladin grumbled. “Rock and Sigzil are helping them.”

For a moment, Kaladin had the peace he needed to work.

“Kal.” Teft winced as Kaladin stitched his insides back together. It had been a long time since Bridge Four had gone without anesthesia, without at least conicshell mucus to numb their wounds. “ _Kaladin._ ”

“ _What?_ ”

“The rules.” A wheezing breath, shallower than the last. “The rules of triage, Kal. What are they?”

Kaladin’s breath caught. His needle pulled back from the wound. “No, Teft.”

Pain crumpled Teft’s brow. “What…what are they?”

“You’re hurt worse than anyone else here, Teft,” Kaladin snapped.

“And?”

His breath caught in his lungs. “You’re not that old, Teft. Whatever Lopen says.”

Teft chuckled. “There’s one more. The most—” He paused, shivered. “Most important.”

Kaladin’s vision blurred. All he saw now was red. Teft’s life draining away. “Please, Teft,” he whispered. “Don’t do this to me. I can’t fail you, too.”

“You haven’t.”

Blinking, wiping his face on his sleeve, Kaladin shook his head. Teft smiled, then closed his eyes.

“This is it, lad. There’s no Stormlight. I’ve lost too much blood. You couldn’t get me back to the Oathgate, even if you had the spheres to get us home.”

“So, what?” Kaladin’s hands were shaking again, and not from fatigue. “I just let you die?”

“I shoulda died three years ago. We all should have. Bridge Four was supposed to be a death sentence. You saved us. Let us die as more than bait.”

“You aren’t supposed to die at all!”

Kaladin’s words rang in the air. He felt the weight of a half dozen gazes on him. Skar, gripping his spear as though this was another battle he could fight. Drehy and Leyten, hands linked, eyes red. Shen, who had already attuned Mourning. Too soon. Too soon.

No time to worry about them now. Kaladin wiped his fingers on his jacket and tied another suture.

Teft pushed his hand away. “Everyone dies,” he said. “We aren’t Heralds, Kal. Just men.”

He was right. Kaladin knew that. If Lirin was here, he’d berate Kaladin for wasting so much time, when so many other soldiers had wounds that needed attention.

But Kaladin wasn’t ready to let go.

Hot tears slipped down his cheeks, mingled with the blood on Teft’s face. Hazy eyes, still icy blue from the Stormlight that hadn’t been enough to save him, cracked open.

“This isn’t your fault, son. None of it…None of it ever was.”

A sob tore from Kaladin’s throat, a raw agony that would not be contained. He bent until his forehead touched Teft’s, opened his mouth to say everything he’d never spoken aloud. _Thank you for believing in me. For teaching me. I wouldn’t be here if not for you._

The words wouldn’t come.

Teft’s hand cupped the back of Kaladin’s neck. “I know.”

A moment longer, Kaladin remained, until Teft’s hand fell away. Then he stood, blinking away tears, and took two steps back. Lopen stood nearby, a water skin balanced in his hands.

His eyes, fading back to deep, dark brown, held grim understanding.

“Not long now,” Kaladin said, and cleared his throat. “There are others who need me. I…”

“Go on, gancho,” Lopen said. He put the water skin down and sat beside Teft. “We’ll stay with him.”

Kaladin nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he turned and walked away.


End file.
